NCAA Division I Softball Committee announces 2017 championship field

INDIANAPOLIS—The University of Florida was named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship Sunday when the NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced the 64-team field. The Gators, who earned the top seed for the third straight year, will host Florida A&M University, an automatic qualifier from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Southeastern Conference led all leagues with 13 teams selected to the championship tournament. The Pac-12 Conference placed eight teams in the championship tournament, respectively. Three teams are making their first appearance in the tournament: East Tennessee State University, University of Montana and Saint Francis University (Pennsylvania).

Only 12 schools have been crowned the NCAA Division I softball champion since the tournament started in 1982, and all 12 will compete in this year's bracket.

DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS

*Indicates Host Institution

Gainesville Regional — May 19-21 at Gainesville, Florida

No. 1 seed Florida * (50-6) vs. Florida A&M (23-30)

FIU (45-13) vs. Oklahoma State (35-23)

Tuscaloosa Regional – May 19-21 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Minnesota (54-3) vs. Louisiana Tech (37-22)

Albany (NY) (27-16) vs. No. 16 seed Alabama* (42-16)

College Station Regional – May 19-21 at College Station, Texas

No. 9 seed Texas A&M* (42-10) vs. Texas Southern (25-19)

Texas (31-24) vs. Texas St. (41-15)

Knoxville Regional – May 19-21 at Knoxville, Tennessee

Ohio St. (35-16) vs. USC Upstate (44-11)

Longwood (28-27) vs. No. 8 seed Tennessee* (44-10)

Los Angeles Regional – May 19-21 at Los Angeles, California

No. 5 seed UCLA* (42-13) vs. Lehigh (36-18)

San Jose St. (36-17) vs. Cal St. Fullerton (33-21)

Oxford Regional – May 19-21 at Oxford, Mississippi

Arizona St. (30-20) vs. North Carolina (38-19)

Southern Ill. (33-22) vs. No. 12 seed Ole Miss* (40-18)

Baton Rouge Regional – May 19-21 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana

No. 13 seed LSU* (41-18) vs. Fairfield (26-26)

McNeese (42-16) vs. Louisiana (45-6)

Tallahassee Regional – May 19-21 at Tallahassee, Florida

Georgia (33-21) vs. Jacksonville St. (40-10)

Princeton (25-18) vs. No. 4 seed Florida St.* (51-6-1)

Eugene Regional – May 19-21 at Eugene, Oregon

No. 3 seed Oregon* (47-6) vs. Ill.-Chicago (38-20)

Wisconsin (33-15) vs. Missouri (29-26)

Lexington Regional – May 19-21 at Lexington, Kentucky

Illinois (37-18) vs. Marshall (41-10)

DePaul (29-21) vs. No. 14 seed Kentucky* (36-17)

Salt Lake City Regional – May 18-20 at Salt Lake City, Utah

No. 11 seed Utah* (33-14) vs. Fordham (45-15)

Mississippi St. (36-20) vs. BYU (44-11)

Seattle Regional – May 19-21 at Seattle, Washington

Michigan (41-11-1) vs. Fresno St. (34-21)

Montana (35-22) vs. No. 6 seed Washington* (43-11)

Auburn Regional – May 19-21 at Auburn, Alabama

No. 7 seed Auburn* (46-10) vs. ETSU (29-24)

Notre Dame (32-21) vs. California (30-22)

Norman Regional – May 19-21 at Norman, Oklahoma

Tulsa (39-15) vs. Arkansas (31-22)

North Dakota St. (28-31) vs. No. 10 seed Oklahoma* (50-8)

Waco Regional – May 19-21 at Waco, Texas

No. 15 seed Baylor* (43-12) vs. Kent St. (32-26)

Oregon St. (28-25) vs. James Madison (50-6)

Tucson Regional – May 19-21 at Tucson, Arizona

South Carolina (32-23) vs. Saint Francis (PA) (48-9)

New Mexico St. (29-23) vs. No. 2 seed Arizona* (48-7)

CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE

The committee held selections on May 12-14. The 64-team field was selected from 295 NCAA Division I institutions sponsoring softball. Of the 64 teams, 32 teams received an automatic qualification with the remaining best 32 teams selected on an at-large basis.

Regionals will be held May 18-21 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.

Super Regionals for the championship will be held May 25-28 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA® Women’s College World Series (WCWS).

SEEDING/SITES

Teams were selected to the field of 64 teams. The top 16 teams were seeded in order, and the remaining teams are paired by geographic proximity, with the exception that the teams within the same conference were not paired during regional competition.